Many years ago I first saw Hostas at KMart around Mother's Day. I really wanted one but I didn't garden at the time so I had to wait. A couple of years ago I got this shade bed on the north side of the house built....literally. There was nothing but english ivy covering the ground and the wall so I spent a couple of years pulling all of that up. Then I put some edging around the area and started dumping old soil, leftover compost. leaves and small sticks in it to build up the bed. Last year I had several plants in pots in the bed, including some Hostas. Pots of plants in a bed that is hard to reach with the longest hose I have in the hottest, driest summer on record and the only plants to survive were 4 Hostas, a Creeping Charlie and a small patch of Wandering Jew. I just finished clearing the bed of the assorted pots and putting the surviving Hostas in the ground along with the 6 I bought the other day for $1.87 each. Now I have my Hosta bed and I can't wait for next spring when they start coming up and growing larger. Hopefully they will cover the area in a couple years. With them in the ground I am going to weave a soaker hose around them so they can be watered easier and more often. New Hosta bed ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden ) The newest residents... Hosta 'First Frost' ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden ) It's bloom...that wasn't there when I bought the plant ... Hosta 'First Frost' bloom ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden ) I am going back to Lowe's to see if there are some of these left, I figured out where I could plant some in the back yard.... Hosta 'Orange Marmalade' ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden )
Very nice. I love to see different Hosta. I have many Hosta but my most favorite are my mini ones. They live around my old oak tree in the front garden. Barb in Pa.
Thanks Barb. I had some mini ones that didn't survive the summer, I am hoping to find more next spring.
Yes, I feel they are hard to find. Sometimes the sales people don't know what they have and sometimes they think one that gets 10 inches is a mini. I have large ones also but they are in a different place. Toni, I wonder why yours didn't survive. Any mini that I have found has lived in my cold here in Pa. Maybe they "have to" go through a dormant time to survive. I had them all labeled but the squirrels pulled out all of them last Spring Barb in Pa.
Your Hosta bed looks lovely, toni. Congratulations on your new hostas. The "First Frost" looks very nice indeed. Will "Orange Marmalade" colour more out do you think? The oldest hostas we've got are large ones, but we've restricted new aquisitions to small and mini ones due to lack of space. Some of our mini hostas didn't survive the hard freeze with no snow cover last winter. A couple of them only just made it and I moved them to a hopefully better spot. Fingers crossed they'll get through the winter and fatten up next year.
Good work on the Hosta Bed,..they really are very impressive in the shade,..but beware of slugs,..they love a Hosta.
Great bed and hostas. I also have some parts of the garden in the shade. This is useful when you have shade-loving plants. Right?
Uh oh Toni ... looks like you may have caught a small case of 'Hosta Fever'! It stuck here too and I think Droopy has had it also. Be careful ... it could lead to an uncontrollable urge to buy MORE Hosta's!
Very pretty Toni. :-D The leaves can also be very pretty in a floral design. When I worked in a floral shop/nursery we would sometimes hijack a few leaves from the outside garden for arrangements.
Thanks everyone for the nice comments. I am going back to Lowe's later this morning to rescue more Hostas, if there are any left. Barb, I think the plants that didn't survive were fried by the dry heat not just dormant through the summer. I checked the root ball and it is black. Droopy, from what I have read the leaves start out green/blue-green, then they turn to orange, then yellow and end their growing season as white. Should be pretty out there next year. Philip, I had a little problem with slugs nibbling on them when they were in pots on the other side of the house year before last. But this past year, same pots but in a new location the slugs evidently couldn't find them. Hopefully they won't show up next year either. Cal, the two Pecan trees that make that area a shade garden were planted by squirrels about 20 years ago. I think the squirrels knew I wanted somewhere to plant Hostas Netty, I do think I have a case of 'Hosta Fever' and I think you and Droopy gave it to me. I probably won't have quite the number of varieties you two do because there just aren't that many different ones in stores down here. But I really do like the ones I have found. Kathy, I bet they did add a lot to floral arrangements. I have never been able to bring myself to cut any of my flowers to bring inside, they are so pretty out in the garden.
Good luck at Lowes Toni. I stopped by our's yesterday and the place is almost bare! Guess they're getting ready for Christmas trees.
Cheryl, glad you like the bed. It's funny, on the south and east sides of the house we are having some volunteer trees removed and large limbs from a couple of others taken down because they are creating too much shade but on the north side I have a tree trimming ban in effect. Our Lowe's last weekend was almost empty too and being set up to hold christmas trees. I hope if there are any Hostas left I can get them before they get thrown out cause they were all in great shape.
Oooh, sounds exciting! I think I need to look for that particular Hosta next year, even though my guess is it will need more sun than we usually have to bring the colour out. Yeah, right. I always get the blame. :'(
The growers tag says Shade--No Direct Sun doesn't say anything about it being dappled shade so where I have it planted will be full shade. Hope the tag is correct cause I want to see the color changes.
